By Bruce Robbins and Dave Lord

TAYSIDE POLICE and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) failed to notify the public when a brutal murderer walked out of Castle Huntly open prison last month and did not return.

Glasgow thug David Cochrane, who, along with two others, beat a 64-year-old butcher to death and robbed him of less than £100, was on the run for a month before being captured by Strathclyde Police.

Despite Cochrane’s appalling record for violence, including stabbing a fellow prisoner and a prison warder, senior police officers and the SPS did not believe the public should have been warned when he absconded last month.

Cochrane (56) had been given a few days’ leave from Castle Huntly last month to go to a family funeral and decided not to go back.

Yesterday he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court, having been apprehended in Glasgow, and he said he failed to return to Castle Huntly because he was feeling “morose”. His solicitor said his client was feeling “low” following the death of his brother.

The solicitor said Cochrane went to a friend’s house and “simply stayed there” rather than returning to Castle Huntly as agreed.

“He was feeling very sorry for himself and very remorseful,” he told the court. “He just sat at his friend’s house and was eventually apprehended,” the solicitor added.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Jamieson said he had no option but to jail Cochrane for an additional two months.

“I have taken into account all that was said in mitigation,” he said. “However, that does not excuse your actions.”

The SPS yesterday said Cochrane, who had escaped from prison once before, would have gone through a rigorous assessment process before being transferred to Castle Huntly as he neared the end of his sentence.

When prisoners abscond from Castle Huntly, the SPS immediately informs Tayside Police whose duty it is to track down the missing criminal. The two bodies consult as to whether the public should be told about absconders.

The SPS spokesman said the prison service did not feel it necessary to tell the public or even local residents in the Carse of Gowrie when Cochrane went on the run.

Detective Inspector Steve Bissett of Tayside Police said that where inquiries failed to trace an absconder, consideration is given to a public appeal but that action would only be taken in consultation with the Crown Office.

“A number of factors require to be considered before a public appeal is made, such as the risk posed by the individual, current information about their whereabouts and wider public safety,” he said.

“The depth of inquiry and the efficiency with which it is carried out will, as with every other similar inquiry, be progressed according to the assessment made of the person at large.

“There are no boundaries, and the police will follow up all relevant intelligence and inquiry avenues in order to trace an individual.”

Cochrane was reportedly walking the streets of Glasgow with just a baseball cap for a disguise when Strathclyde Police picked him up.

He was jailed for life after he and his gang murdered butcher Thomas Woods at his shop in Gallowgate in 1979.

The gang also battered Mr Woods’ friend, an off-duty policeman who helped the butcher bank his takings, but he survived the attack.

Cochrane was sent to Perth Prison but just months after his arrival got into a fight with another prisoner and stabbed him with a makeshift knife, also slashing a warder who tried to intervene. Both survived.

Two years later he escaped and was on the run for three months before being recaptured.

He was eventually paroled but within months was back in jail for another attempted armed raid. Wielding a baseball bat, he attempted to steal £4500 from a Glasgow pub but staff managed to disarm him. He was sentenced to five years for the crime.

Cochrane was sent to Castle Huntly as he neared the end of his sentence for the pub raid and was being prepared for release.

The SPS said prisoners have to meet certain criteria before being transferred to an open prison and the spokesman defended the decision to send Cochrane to Castle Huntly.

The spokesman said, “When a prisoner is sent to the open estate, the decision at that time is correct. There can be numerous reasons for a prisoner absconding and until we talk to the individual we won’t know why he failed to return.

“The decision to notify the public about a prisoner is for the police and not the prison service. If the police think it is appropriate (to notify the public) they will do so in consultation with us.”

He added, “We have to recognise there’s a need to rehabilitate and prepare the prisoner for release and balance that with the need to protect the public.

“We don’t for one minute try to reduce or mitigate what an individual prisoner has done. We fully acknowledge that when reaching a decision but, equally, what we do is look closely at what benefit there is to an individual prisoner going to the open estate.”